20 ga loads

sharp shooter

sharp shooter

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Essex county (Ontario)
Hello,

New to loading 20 gauge. Looking for a good trap load. Also looking for a good hunting load (pheasants). Also looking for a mega whoomper load fore crows. I'll start the crow load with longshot. How much lead can I put in a 2-3/4" shell. All I have seen is 1 oz. loads.

Thanks y'all
 
I'm still trying to decide on 20 ga. recipe or two myself. But for me its a matter of which published recipe(s) to settle on, as dictated largely by the components that are conveniently available in my area.

Just go to Alliant or Hodgdon and pick something from the book. Stay away from unpublished pet recipes in 20 ga. You can get away with educated substitutions of comparable components in 12 ga., but 20 ga. is not as forgiving when it comes to pressures.
 
A good load that I use for skeet and some hunting is 16 grains of Unique and 7/8 oz of lead over a Claybuster wad. Unique is pretty tough to beat in a 20ga. or 28 ga. (13gr.)
This load is 1200 fps.
 
"mega whoomper load fore crows" ?? - crows don't require "mega whoomping". A 1oz lead load is already a heavy load in the 20 ga. and more shot is not going to pattern effectively in most guns. 1 oz of 7-1/2 or 6 shot is a good crow load if your gun patterns the load well.
It is not possible to answer your question about how much Longshot to put in a 2-3/4" shell - the amount will vary with hull, wad, shot charge and primer. Each component can make a difference. Lyman makes a good manual.
 
I shhot a lot of crows and the crows where I live need good shells. Trap loads don't kill crows as effectivley. I wish I stil had some unique. I have a bit of longshot, I'll try some light loads for trap and then bump up to the max with it for the crows. Thanks guys.
 
Longshot is an excellent choice for heavy loads in the 20 gauge. but it does not respond well to light loadings, velocity and pressure tend to be erratic if it is not loaded in "heavy" loads.
High velocity loads are not always the best solution for effective lead game loads. There is a definite trend lately towards pushing heavy loads of shot quickly down small bores. The downside to this approach is blown patterns and long shot strings caused by the long column of shot, with deformed pellets at the bottom from the extreme pressure and deformed pellets at the top that don't fit the shot cup and scrub flat against the bore. Paper ballistics do not predict the effectiveness of a shotshell load on game, pattern efficiency does!
In my experience the result of over-loading a shotgun is simply more noise, recoil, and expense. Spend your money and time developing a well balanced Longshot load of about 1250 fps. Use magnum grade hard shot, use a good wad that fully encloses and cushions a 1 oz. load of #6 shot and a choke that patterns that combination well.
If you really need a "mega whoomper load" you should step up to a 12 ga. or a 10 ga, the bigger bore does that job much more efficiently.
 
thanks longwalker. I usually use my 12ga with longshot and 1-1/4oz @ 1440fps which I find to be the ultimate crow load. I just wanted a load for the old (new to me) 20 gauge auto 5. I can see what you're talking about blowing the patterns. Thanks ;)
 
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